Bending machine



(No Model.) Y

E. ANDREWS.

BBNDING MACHINE.

No. 329,613. Patented .,53, 1885.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

EMERY ANDREVS, OF KENNEBUNK, MAINE, ASSIGNOR TO THE LEATHEBOID MANUFACTURING COMPANY, OF SAME PLACE.

BENDlNGMACI-HNE.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 329,613, dated November 3, 1885.

(No model.)

To @ZZ whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, EMERY ANDREWS, of Kennebunk, in the county of York and State of Maine, have invented a new and Vuseful .lm-

provenient in Bending-Machines, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to that class of bendingmachines which are adapted to bend sheets of material, and to heat the same while being bent, and is particularly adapted to bend sheets of parchmentized paper board, known as leatheroid, and similar materials which bend readily when heated and retain their new form permanently when cooled; and it consists in certain novel features of construction and arrangement of parts, which will be readily understood by reference to the drawings and the description, hereinafter set forth.

In the drawings, Figure 1 is a perspective of a machine embodying my invention; Fig. 2, a vertical cross-section of the same; Fig. 3, a detached portion of the bed-plate C of Fig. l, and Fig. 4 a piece of material after being bent.

The frame supporting the working parts of the machine consists of two uprights, A A, connected by a cross-beam, B, at the top, and a stout rod, a, at the bottom. Between these uprights, and extending from one to the other, is a hollow bed-plate, (j, supported on brackets b b, bolted to the uprights A A. One of the upper corners, c, of this bed-plate, over which the material is to be bent, is usually made at a more acute angle than that intended for the material to assume when finished, as the stock will usually spring back a little from the exact shape to which it is bent. Hence to bend material to a right angle the corner c of the bed-plate is made at an angle slightly acute, as shown. Above this bed-plate is a clampingplate, D, attached to two arms, ff, which are pivoted to the upright portions of the brackets b b, and, extending beyond said pivots, are provided with weights g g, which may be adj usted to overbalance the weight of the plate D, so that in its normal position it is slightly raised from the bed-plate C to allow the sheet of material to be bent to be interposed; and it may be brought down upon such material 5o by means of the foot-treadle E, which is connected with the arms f f, as shown, by the rods hh. Above the clamping-plate D is suspended an angular bending-bar, F, made of such a shape as to inclose and iit the two sides of the bed-plate C adjacent to the corner c, about which the material is to bent. This bendingbar may be made hollow, as is the bed-plate, so as to admit steam. It is suspended by ropes or chains fr' z', attached to either end, and passing upward over pulleys 6o kick k, and carrying counterbalancing-weights m mf. It is adapted to be brought down upon the clamping-plate D by pulling down the horizontal rod o, attached to the extremities ofthe arms p p, the other ends of which are pivoted to ears on the lower side of the crossbeam B, and which have near their centers the rods r r depending, and attached to the bar F. The ends of this bar have projections which slide loosely in vertical grooves in the 7o uprights A A, and thus guide it in its movements. The brackets b b attheir ends to the left, as shown in the drawings, are each made with an upright portion so shaped as to inclose between it and the upright A, a block, S, which carries rollers which are adapted to press against the depending portion of the bar F and press it against the material interposed between it and the bed-plate C. This pressure may be regulated by screws u a, which are 8O threaded in the upright portion ofthe brackets, and may be screwed against the blocks s s, as may be desired. In the upper side of the bedplate C is a dovetailed groove, (sec Fig. 3,)

in which lie loosely two blocks, o o, each car- 8 5 rying a short vertical pin which projects above the surface of the bed-plate. The office of these pins is to enter holes punched near the edges of the material to be bent, at such distances apart on each side as equal the desired distance of the angles of the finished material. Thus, if it be desired to bend a strip iol? material to form four sides of a box, like that shown in Fig. 4, four holes are punched near each edge of the slieet opposite each other, and at a distance apart on each side equal to the length of the corresponding side of the box. The material is then placed on the bedplate, so that the pins on the blocks o o will enter the two holes therein nearest to the end. Ioo

The footof the operator depresses the tread-le E, bringing down the clamping-plate D onto the stock. Then the bar o is pulled down, carrying the bending-bar F, the lower edge of which turns down the projecting portion of the material, the side pressure being adj usted as needed by the screws a u. Steam having been admitted to the bed-plate C and bendingbar F by the pipes z z, the heat softens the material so it may be bent without injury. The pressure upon the sheet is continued as long as may be desired, andthen the bendingbar is raised and the material moved forward, so that the pins shall enter theneXt two opposite holes,'when the operation is repeated uutil all the desired angles have been bent. The steam-pipe connecting with the bending-bar F should have a flexible hose-connection to accommodate the rise and fall of said bar, as shown at y. I claim- 1. rIhe combination of the hollow bed-plate C, the clamping-plate D, and the bending-bar F, arranged and to operate substantially as specified.

2. The bed-plate C, in combination with the clampingplate D, the bending bar F, the blocks s s, and adj usting-screws u u, substantially as set forth.

,plate D, supported by the pivoted arms ff vand counter-balances g g, and the bending-bar F, substantially as set forth.

5. In combination, the bed-plate C, the plate D, and the bar F, operated by the arms r r and p p, substantially as specified;

6. In a bending-machine, a bed-plate, C, provided with the adjustablefpins v o, arranged to project from the face of said bed-plate beneath the bar F and to enter holes in the material to be bent, and thus determine the line along which the bending shall take place, in combination with the bending-bar F, substantially as specified.

EMERY ANDREWS.

Vitnesses:

STEPHEN MOORE, J AMES H. WILLIAMS. 

